Purdue Cage Coach Rejects Offer by ASU

Gene Keady, still undecided as he walked into a meeting with athletic director George King today, said he looked out a window, scanned the Purdue campus and only then made up his mind to stay as the Boilermakers’ basketball coach.

He rejected a reported offer of $300,000 a year to coach at Arizona State, which has had three coaches and no winning season since 1982.

“Walking into that meeting, I didn’t know what I was going to do, to be honest, because it really has been the most difficult decision of my career,” said Keady, who has compiled a 193-85 record in nine years at Purdue. “When I took this job, I said it was a chance of a lifetime, and I still feel that way.”

Visited ASU Campus

Keady’s announcement came during a teleconference call from Purdue. Keady and his wife, Pat, visited the Arizona State campus at Tempe on Sunday, and he discussed the vacant job with ASU Athletic Director Charles Harris.

“Pat and I were very impressed (with Arizona State),” Keady said today. “But going into the meeting . . . when I walked in and looked out the window and saw the tradition and knew what the people have been saying about our program and how supportive they’ve been, about 11:30 (a.m.) I decided I’m going to coach the Boilermakers next year.”

Keady, a native of Kansas, coached at Hutchinson Junior College and Western Kentucky before coming to Purdue in 1980. The Boilermakers compiled the best league record in the Big Ten over his first eight years as coach but dipped to 15-16 this past season, Purdue’s first losing record since 1966.